Boxes,cases and the like

ABSTRACT

A BOX INCLUDES A BODY PORTION AND A LID FORMED INTEGRALLY WITH THE BODY PORTION AS A ONE-PIECE MOULDING OF A SYNTHETIC PLASTICS MATERIAL. THE LID IS CONNECTED TO THE BODY PORTION BY A WEB EXTENDING BETWEEN SIDE WALLS OF THE BODY PORTION AND LID WHICH ARE CO-PLANAR WHEN THE LID IS CLOSED. THE SIDE WALLS PROVIDE MEANS FOR ATTACHMENT OF SPRING CLIP WHICH BIASES THE LID INTO EITHER A FULLY OPEN POSITION OR A FULLY CLOSED POSITION.

P 1971 r. w. PINCHIN BGXES, CASES AND THE LIKE Filed July 25, 1969IIIIIIIIIII--- I I- m m w M I I I 0 m0 United States Patent 3,606,072BOXES, CASES AND THE LIKE Thomas William Pinchin, Evesham, Worcester,England, assignor to Willmotts Limited, Evesham, Worcester, EnglandFiled July 25, 1969, Ser. No. 844,941 Claims priority, application GreatBritain, Aug. 8, 1968, 37,855/ 68 Int. Cl. B65d 43/16 US. Cl. 220-315 3Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A box includes a body portion and alid formed integrally with the body portion as a one-piece moulding of asynthetic plastics material. The lid is connected to the body portion bya web extending between side walls of the body portion and lid which areco-planar when the lid is closed. The side walls provide means forattachment of a spring clip which biases the lid into either a fullyopen position or a fully closed position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates to boxes, cases and the like (hereinafter referred togenerically as boxes) which include a body portion, a lid hingedlyconnected to the body portion and spring means acting between the bodyportion and the lid and operative to urge the lid into an open positionwhen the lid is moved relative to the body portion beyond apredetermined partially open position and to urge the lid into a closedposition when the lid is in a position between said predeterminedpartially open position and the closed position.

Description of the prior art In previous forms of boxes having theconstructional features set out above either the lid of the box or thewall of the body portion to which the lid is hinged has been formed of,or has included a part formed of, a resiliently deformable syntheticplastics material shaped so as to provide the necessary spring openingand spring closing action. In such previous boxes the lid and the bodyportion have been formed as separate mouldings of a synthetic plasticsmaterial so that the separate parts of the box have had to be assembledtogether after moulding thereof.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved form ofbox wherein the lid and body portion are formed as a one-piece moulding.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The lid is formed integrally with the bodyportion as a one-piece moulding of a synthetic plastics material, thehinge means between the body portion and the lid is constituted by a webinterconnecting the lid and body portion, the web extends between agenerally planar upwardly extending side wall of the body portion and agenerally planar downwardly extending side wall of the lid and the sidewalls are formed to afford means for attachment of the spring means, theside walls being disposed in co-planar relationship when the lid isclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the boxshown with the lid thereof in its closed position, the section of FIG. 1being taken parallel to the hinge axis and in a direction towards saidhinge,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the box taken at right 3,606,072 PatentedSept. 20, 1971 ice plane passing through the hinge as indicated by thearrows 3-3 in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The box 10 is formed byinjection moulding from a synthetic plastics material and has a hingedlid 11 which includes a top portion having generally planar downwardlydepending side walls 12 and the lid 11 is connected to the body 13 ofthe box by a hinge 16. The body 13 has a flat base 14 and upwardlyextending generally planar side walls 15, the hinge 16 between the lid11 and the body 13 being constituted by a flexible connecting web whichextends between adjacent side Walls of the lid and body.

A slot 18 is formed in the side wall 15 of the body 13 of the boxadjacent the hinge 16, said slot 18 being arranged with its open mouthfacing towards the hinge and the slot 18 being located on the inner faceof the side wall 15. A slot 19* is formed in the side wall 12 of the lid11 adjacent the hinge, the slot 19 again being disposed with its openmouth facing towards the hinge 16 and the slot 19 being disposed on theinnerface of the wall 12. The lid 11 and the body 13 of the box 10 areof the same configuration, being of generally rectangular form in theparticular construction shown, so that the box is symmetrical about aplane containing the hinge. It will, however, be appreciated that manyalterations can be made in the particular configuration of the box andthat the lid and body can, if required, be of different configurations.

A spring steel wire 26 which has end portions 28 which are bent at anangle to the main portion 30 of the wire 26, is inserted in each slot18, 19 formed in the box side walls 12 and 15 with the inclined endportions 28 thereof pointed towards the opening at the top of theassociated slot 18 or 19. A spring clip 32 of C-section is held inposition by engagement of hook portions 34 at each end of the clip withthe main or central portions 30 of the two wires 26. The steel Wires 26are held securely in their slots 18, 19 as any pressure in a directionsuch as to efiect withdrawal thereof will cause the end portions 28 ofthe wires to become embedded in the end walls 36 of the slots 18 and 19.An opening 38 is formed in the centre of the side wall 40 (see FIG. 3)of each slot 18 or 19 for the hook portions 34 of the spring clip 32 toengage the main or central portions of each wire 26.

The spring clip 32 provides an over-dead-centre.snap action for openingor closing the lid and is in a condition of maximum tension when the lidis moved into a predetermined partially open position, which position isdetetrmined by the configuration of the spring clip. The spring clip 32provides both snap opening and snap closing of the lid away from thispartially open position.

As the hinge 16 connecting the lid 11 and the body 13 of the box 10 isformed integral with the lid and body as a web interconnecting them, thebox can be for-med as a one-piece moulding and the only operationsrequired in assembling the box are the insertion of the wires 26 and theconnection of the spring clip 32 to the two wires 26.

I claim:

1. In a box including a body portion, a lid hingedly connected to thebody portion and spring means acting between the body portion and thelid and operative to urge the lid into an open position when the lid ismoved relative to the body portion beyond a predetermined partially openposition and to urge the lid into a closed position when the lid is in aposition between said pre-determined partially open position and theclosed position, the improvement wherein:

(a) the lid is formed integrally with the body portion as a one-piecemoulding of a synthetic plastics material,

(b) the hinge means between the body portion and the lid is constitutedby a web interconnecting the lid and body portion,

(c) the body portion includes a generally planar upwardly extending sidewall and the lid includes a generally planar downwardly extending sidewall which is disposed in co-planar relationship with the said side wallof the body portion when the lid is closed,

((1) said web extends between said side walls,

(e) said side walls are formed to afford means for attachment of saidspring means,

(f) said side walls are formed in their inner surfaces with slots whichhave open mouths facing towards the hinge means,

(g) locating elements for the spring means are received in said slots,and

(h) each locating element is a spring steel wire which extends generallyparallel to the hinge axis and has its end portions bent in thedirection towards the open mouth of its associated slot whereby anytendency to withdraw it from its slot by the application of a force toits central or intermediate portion will result in the end portionthereof becoming embedded in the end walls of the associated slot.

2. In a box including a body portion, a lid hingedly connected to thebody portion and spring means acting between the body portion and thelid and operative to urge the lid into an open position when the lid ismoved r relative to the body portion beyond a pre-deterrnined partiallyopen position and to urge the lid into a closed position when the lid isin a position between said pro-determined partially open position andthe closed position, the improvement wherein:

(a) the lid is formed integrally with the body portion as a one-piecemoulding of a synthetic plastics material,

(b) the hinge means between the body portion and the lid is constitutedb a web interconnecting the lid and body portion,

(c) the body portion includes a generally planar upwardly extending sidewall and the lid includes a generally planar downwardly extending sidewall which is disposed in co-planar relationship with the said side wallof the body portion when the lid is closed,

(d) said web extending between said side walls,

(c) said side walls are formed to aiford means for attachment of thespring means,

(f) said side walls are formed in their inner surfaces with slots whichhave open mouths facin towards the hinge means,

(g) locating elements for the spring means are received in said slots,and

(h) said locating elements are elastically deformable.

3. A box according to claim 2 wherein each elasticallydeformablelocating element is in the form of a spring steel wire which includes amain portion extending generally parallel to the hinge axis and endportions bent towards the open mouth of the associated slot, wherein theends proper of each spring steel wire engage walls of the associatedslot, wherein said spring means is of C-section and wherein free ends ofthe spring means engage one with the main portion of each spring steelwire.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,317,078 5/1967 Gordon 220353,416,655 12/1968 Shilfman 206 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,482,054 4/1967 France20631 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner J. R. GARRETT, AssistantExaminer U.S. Cl. X.R. 220-35

